BLUE HILL METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORY MILTON, MASSACHUSETTS ELEVATION 635 FEET, 10 MILES SSW OF BOSTON, MA DAILY DISCUSSION AND CLIMATE SUMMARY THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 2013 ALL TIMES ARE IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME PEAK WIND GUSTS REACH HURRICANE FORCE THIS MORNING. HIGH TEMPERATURES REACH NEW RECORD FOR THE DATE RAINFALL TOTALS LESS THAN A HALF INCH South winds began gusting over 60 MPH very early this morning but diminished rapidly just after 7 A.M. Below are our peak wind gusts: Speeds in MPH AEROVANE 81 S @ 6:00 A.M. ASOS 81 S @ 6:23 A.M. Merlin 81 S Davis: 77 S @ 4:42 A.M. 420C: 74 SSE @ 6:22 A.M. Maximum 2-minute average (ASOS) 58 S @ 5:34 A.M. Rainfall for 24 hours ending 7 A.M.: 0.40 inch. Lowest pressure: 28.99 inches (ASOS) @ 9:30 A.M. Through 7 A.M. this morning our January total is 1.39 inches Driest Januarys, inches (1885-2012) 1) 0.89 in 1955 2) 0.97 in 1980 3) 1.00 in 1989 4) 1.07 in 1970 5) 1.25 in 1981 6) 1.31 in 1985 7) 1.72 in 2004 8) 1.80 in 1922 9) 1.84 in 1916 10) 1.96 in 1967 Today's observations: 7 A.M. Weather: Broken stratus fractus, overcast nimbus stratus Temperature: 57F; Dew Point: 57F; Wind: S at 38G52 kts. Wind: Peak wind gust 65 kts from S @ 6:23 A.M. Wind: Aerovane peak wind gust 70 kts from S @ 6:00 A.M. Sea-level pressure: 29.08 ins. Hg, falling then more rapidly Visibility: 6 miles, light rain, fog 6-hour min. temp: 56F 24-hour precip: 0.40 in. BHO SA 1155 E15 BKN 34 OVC 6R-F 846/57/56/1838G52/908/ VSBY INCRSNG BRFLY R+ PST HR PK WND 1865/23/ PK WND AEROVANE 1870/00/ 8/72/ 55043 ASOS 60036 MANUAL 60034 ASOS 70050 MANUAL 70040 10059 20056 10 A.M. Weather: Broken stratosumulus, overcast nimbostratus, light rain shower began unknown, bright sky along the horizon E-S Temperature: 44F; Dew Point: 40F; Wind: W at 27G38 kts, Wind: Peak wind from SSW at 44 kts at 9:26 A.M. Wind: Direction shift at 9:50 A.M. (frontal passage FROPA) Sea-level pressure: 29.05 ins. Hg, falling then more slowly Visibility: 20 miles, 30 miles E-S, W-N 15 miles, light rain shower 3-hr precip: 0.03 BHO SA 1455 E15 BKN 20 OVC 20RW- 839/44/40/2627G38/905/ BRGHT SKY ALG HRZN E-S VSBY E-S 30 W-N 15 PK WND 2044/26/ WND 22V29 WSHFT 50 RBUKN/8/72/ 55007 MANUAL 6003/ ASOS 60005 1 P.M. Weather: Broken variable scattered stratocumulus, few lower cumulus, moderate cumulus Temperature: 43F; Dew Point: 31F; Wind: W at 22G39 kts, Wind: Peak wind from W at 39 kts @ 12:47 P.M. Wind: Direction variable WSW-WNW Sea-level pressure: 29.18 ins. Hg, Rising, then rising more slowly Visibility: 80 miles 6-hr precip: 0.03 in. 6-hr max temp: 57F 6-hour min temp: 42F BHO SA 1755 E38 BKN 80 880/43/31/2822G39/918/ FEW LWR CU/FEW MDT BKN V SCT VIRGA DSNT SW PK WND 2839/47/ WND 24V30/ 8/800 51041 MANUAL 6003/ ASOS 60005 10057 20042 WEATHER SUMMARY FOR WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F) MAX.....59 NORMAL.....34 MIN.....33 NORMAL.....17 MEAN....46 NORMAL.....26 DEPARTURE FROM 30-YEAR NORMAL.....................+20 TOTAL DEPARTURE FOR THE MONTH....................+112 [+3.5 DEGREES/DAY] HEATING DEGREE DAYS TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR YESTERDAY............19 DEPARTURE.........-21 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE MONTH..........1076 DEPARTURE........-111 TOTAL HEATING UNITS FOR THE SEASON.........3104 DEPARTURE........-387 TOTAL HEATING UNITS LAST SEASON TO DATE....2753 DIFFERENCE.......+351 PEAK GUST AND AVERAGE WIND SPEED (MPH) PEAK WIND GUST FOR YESTERDAY...............50 SSW AT 2:53 P.M. AERO....................48 SSW AT 2:53 P.M. ASOS....................52 SSW AT 2:53 P.M. DAVIS...................51 SW AT 2:51 P.M. RMY N/A THE FASTEST MILE FOR YESTERDAY.............40 SSW AT 3:08 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE ASOS AVERAGE..............38 SSW AT 3:10 P.M. MAXIMUM 2-MINUTE DAVIS AVERAGE.............37 SSW AT 3:11 P.M. AVERAGE WIND SPEED AND DIRECTION..........24.8 SSW ASOS...................23.6 DAVIS..................22.8 S [190 deg.] PRECIPITATION (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL PRECIPITATION 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M....0.40 DEPARTURE..........+0.26 ASOS..............0.50 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH..........1.39 DEPARTURE..........-2.83 ASOS..............1.43 TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR THE YEAR...........1.39 DEPARTURE..........-2.83 ASOS..............1.43 SNOWFALL (INCHES) THROUGH THIS MORNING (EST) TOTAL SNOWFALL 24 HRS ENDING 7 A.M.........0.0 DEPARTURE............-0.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH...............6.1 DEPARTURE...........-10.5 TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR THE SEASON.............21.5 DEPARTURE...........-11.1 PRELIMINARY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JANUARY 2013 CALENDAR DAY DATA DATA REPORTED: DATE: MAX/MIN/MEAN/DEP/PRECIP/SUN(MIN.)/SUN(%)/ PEAK GUST/AERO GUST AERO: Aerovane wind recording system gust RMY: RMY = R.M. Young wind gust recording system added 8/9/2011 TSTM: Thunderstorm day (thunder heard some time during day) ....: Data not yet available, records not finalized 1/1 35/18/27/0/0.00/0.0/313/57 44 WNW AERO 44 MPH WNW RMY 45 1/2 29/11/20/-7/0.00/0.0/457/83 35 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 33 1/3 23/2/13/-13/0.00/0.0/529/96 24 WNW AERO 23 MPH WNW RMY 23 1/4 38/19/29/+3/0.00/0.0/320/58 35 W AERO 36 MPH W RMY 36 1/5 40/27/34/+8/0.00/0.0/536/97 36 WNW AERO 37 MPH WNW RMY 38 1/6 42/27/35/+9/T/0.1/471/85 29 SW AERO 29 MPH SW RMY 29 1/7 38/27/33/+7/0.00/0.0/538/97 29 NW AERO 27 MPH NW RMY N/A 1/8 45/27/36/+10/0.00/0.0/428/77 39 SW AERO 42 MPH SW RMY 41 1/9 42/31/37/+11/T/0.0/033/06 40 W AERO 39 MPH W RMY N/A 1/10 45/32/39/+14/0.00/0.0/548/98 47 WNW AERO 48 MPH WNW RMY 50 1/11 38/29/34/+9/0.15/0.0/050/09 23 SE AERO 21 MPH SE RMY 23 1/12 43/35/40/+15/0.02/0.0/000/00 21 SE AERO 18 MPH SE RMY 15 1/13 50/41/46/+21/0.01/0.0/000/00 30 SW AERO 30 MPH SW RMY N/A 1/14 59/40/50/+25/T/0.0/175/31 36 S AERO 37 MPH S RMY 39 1/15 40/33/37/+12/T/0.0/045/08 17 N AERO 16 MPH NNW RMY 17 1/16 33/29/31/+6/0.45/3.5/000/00 16 NNE AERO 14 MPH N RMY 15 1/17 39/28/34/+9/0.00/0.0/519/91 36 WNW AERO 35 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/18 28/16/22/-3/0.00/0.0/566/99 39 NW AERO 39 MPH NW RMY 43 1/19 47/21/34/+9/0.00/0.0/350/61 46 SSW AERO 45 MPH SSW RMY 48 1/20 52/26/39/+14/0.00/0.0/408/71 48 SW AERO 52 MPH SW RMY 51 1/21 26/18/22/-3/0.06/0.9/144/25 35 WNW AERO 32 MPH WNW RMY N/A 1/22 23/10/17/-8/T/T/544/94 35 WNW AERO 30 MPH WNW RMY 35 1/23 15/4/10/-15/0.00/0.0/569/98 39 W AERO 35 MPH W RMY 37 1/24 17/0/9/-16/0.00/0.0/.../.. 43 WNW AERO 39 MPH WNW RMY 44 1/25 22/4/13/-12/0.05/0.6/.../.. 33 WNW AERO 27 MPH WNW RMY 32 1/26 23/9/16/-9/0.01/0.1/.../.. 35 WNW AERO 31 MPH WNW RMY 33 1/27 29/9/19/-6/0.00/0.0/.../.. 32 NW AERO 28 MPH NW RMY 31 1/28 29/17/23/-2/0.16/0.9/.../.. 20 WNW AERO 14 MPH WNW RMY N/A 1/29 33/25/29/+4/..../0.0/000/00 17 SSE AERO 14 MPH SSE RMY N/A 1/30 59/33/46/+20/..../0.0/000/00 50 SSW AERO 48 MPH SSW RMY N/A 1/31 morning low temp: 56F; the normal low is now 17F DAILY RECORDS FOR JANUARY 2013 None so far. DAILY EXTREMES Temperature and precipitation records back to 1885, and wind records back to 1940 (e = estimated): RECORDS FOR JANUARY 31 HIGH 58F IN 1913, 1947 LOW -12F IN 1920 PRECIP 1.03 INS. IN 1914 SNOWFALL 9.0 INS. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 75 MPH NW IN 1974,S 2013 RECORDS FOR FEBRUARY 1 HIGH 65F IN 1989 LOW -9F IN 1920 PRECIP 1.30 INS. IN 1898 SNOWFALL 11.0 INS. IN 1898 PEAK GUST 66e MPH SSW IN 1951 TODAY'S REPORT PREPARED BY: Robert Skilling/Patrick Peters